Highschool athlete here with prs of 2:02, 9:55 , and 4:30 trying to improve my last last lap and my kick specifically in the mile and 2 mile, as my splits for the mile are around (63, 69, 70,68) and i need tend to fall off of the lead pack the last 500meters
there are 2 parts to the kick and kick training; the physical part and the mental part.
To mentally train for a kick you need to train like Seabiscut (the horse). Find a trigger - could be the bell on the bell/gun lap or another specific point in the race. Do this is practice. Repeat. you are trying to condition your mind to go whenever you hit that trigger point so that it becomes automatic.
the physical side of training to improve your kick can be done by again practicing it. You need to kick in practice to expect to have one in a race. this means always kick in your workouts (even though this is something most coaches and programs don't like you to do - to kick with the best you have train for it). you should even do this on easy run days - finish your runs by picking up the pace at the end. After a while kicking becomes so natural you have to learn to hold it back.
one specific workout that i like for teaching the body how to run fast when tired is short rest intervals; something like a 200 meters with only 30 sec rest. going off such short rest teaches your body that you can run fast even when you are not fully recovered (meaning you will still be breathing hard as you start the next 200). It is not about running these super fast - it is about running them with short rest.
one final tip is learn to back off just a little before you begin to kick. this helps your body get control (slows your breathing up a little and gets you ready to go)...again practice this in workouts as well as races.
Most of having a good kick is not about the kick itself, but rather being fresher than your competitors when it's time to kick. The big aspects of this are your level of aerobic fitness and how well you pace yourself.
Fine-tuning your kicking ability through workouts where you practice finishing fast on tired legs is also important, just a relatively smaller part.
Given the mile splits you provided you're doing a terrible job at pacing, so fixing that is the easiest place to start. You can run a fair bit faster just with more even splits without any improvement in fitness.
I no longer race the 1500m, but when I did, I ran a drill as a workout. It was 3 sets of 3x200m, changing how I ran the last 70m on each rep.
On the last 70m of the first rep of each set, I would consciously increase my cadence by swinging my arms harder and faster, but I would shorten my stride so I would NOT speed up.
On the second rep of each set, over the last 70m I would forcefully push off almost but not quite to the point of bounding. I would try to maintain the same speed... just a strong push off and of course a slower cadence.
On the 3rd rep, I would swing my arms faster to increase cadence AND push off harder. I would fly to the finish. I'd be pretty wiped out, but there was the rest between sets so I could recover.
I do the 2nd and 3rd sets the same way. I wouldn't be too concerned about how fast I ran the 200m because I considered these reps as running drills and not reps per se.
I taught my training partner to do the same workout. That summer we both set 1500m age group records in our state.
Having a good kick is mainly about having enough left in the tank to kick it in high gear for the last stretch. So simply put, just get in better shape.
A real kick comes from your fast twitch fibers, your anaerobic sytem. You need something left in your tank and a trained anaerobic system. Its a little bit gentics involved too, how much fast twitch fiber your body has.
This post was edited 24 seconds after it was posted.
Having a good kick is mainly about having enough left in the tank to kick it in high gear for the last stretch. So simply put, just get in better shape.
So when Jacob was outkicked it was because they were aerobically stronger than him? They should have contested the 5000 too. It should have been a walk in the park to beat him there.
A real kick comes from your fast twitch fibers, your anaerobic sytem. You need something left in your tank and a trained anaerobic system. Its a little bit gentics involved too, how much fast twitch fiber your body has.
It's worrying that people still think like this. Not to pick on this post in particular, but this is so wrong and outdated. Almost nothing about what you have said has any basis. It's probably why coaching is so bad , as this is STILL quite a common view
As others have said, the kick is almost nothing to do with anything what you think it is. It's literally really only down to who is the freshest and hasn't spent all their matches.
A real kick comes from your fast twitch fibers, your anaerobic sytem. You need something left in your tank and a trained anaerobic system. Its a little bit gentics involved too, how much fast twitch fiber your body has.
It's worrying that people still think like this. Not to pick on this post in particular, but this is so wrong and outdated. Almost nothing about what you have said has any basis. It's probably why coaching is so bad , as this is STILL quite a common view
As others have said, the kick is almost nothing to do with anything what you think it is. It's literally really only down to who is the freshest and hasn't spent all their matches.
But if two competitors have the same amount of fuel remaining in the tank, and they’re both kicking at the same time, then the deciding factor will be the efficiency of the competitor. Therefore, the runner with the better mechanics, and faster speed will have the advantage.
in short, you both have good points, but you mustn’t discount each other.
A real kick comes from your fast twitch fibers, your anaerobic sytem. You need something left in your tank and a trained anaerobic system. Its a little bit gentics involved too, how much fast twitch fiber your body has.
A "real kick" from a slow race, yes. But not at the end of an even paced mile race.
Yes Josh has more speed than Jakob, but he also profitted from Jakob's lead out in the WC 1500 final and the end result was close.
Having a good kick is mainly about having enough left in the tank to kick it in high gear for the last stretch. So simply put, just get in better shape.
So when Jacob was outkicked it was because they were aerobically stronger than him? They should have contested the 5000 too. It should have been a walk in the park to beat him there.
Yes - that's how it works. Josh had less lactate than Jakob did with a lap to go. Doesn't mean Josh is overall more aerobically fit, it was just that day he was better.